ComingUpMilhouse wrote:I didn't actually know this answer, but poking around the Internet suggests that the Berkeley football stadium has been undergoing major renovations the past two years to make it safer (not sure how well it'll actually work in the event of major fault activity, but that's the idea) and just reopened in September. Maybe they thought someone might be aware of that? It obviously didn't work too well, but maybe it was bigger news in California.

Yes, there was the retrofit, but what made it an Instaget FJ! was having seen on TV documentaries the cracks left in the structure by fault movement over the decades. I seem to be the only Boardie to have seen that though.

Yeah, the more I think about this, the more I think the actual TOM was 'current events' rather than anything explicit in the clue. A two year long stadium retrofit for shoring up in an earthquake sure seems like something that we (as in, the sort who devour these sorts of details) should have run across, especially since the stadium reopened only two months ago.

Of course, as this is the first I've heard about Memorial getting a retrofit (two separate RSS feeds for sports news either missed it or I just skimmed over it)...maybe it wasn't as publicized as the writers thought it was?

teapot37 wrote:It wouldn't be the first time there's been a clue about California that the writers deem gettable that I have no clue at all about. (e.g. the FJ from this game.)

I think most Californians wouldn't know that either. Heck, I've been to Catalina several times. Didn't help. I don't recall what my response was. I probably just picked a random team that I was sure had been around for at least 30 years. It was only when Alex mentioned the Wrigley connection that I dimly remembered having taken some tour or seen some Wrigley building there or something.

teapot37 wrote:It wouldn't be the first time there's been a clue about California that the writers deem gettable that I have no clue at all about. (e.g. the FJ from this game.)

I think most Californians wouldn't know that either. Heck, I've been to Catalina several times. Didn't help. I don't recall what my response was. I probably just picked a random team that I was sure had been around for at least 30 years. It was only when Alex mentioned the Wrigley connection that I dimly remembered having taken some tour or seen some Wrigley building there or something.

Catalina made the toughest FJ poll for that part of the season with results of 18/78 = 23.08%

Omnivore wrote:Been off the boards for quite a while (no doubt because we're not talking about ME anymore), but I just wanted to say to Keith (and to Paul and Ariane, if you stop by) that was one of the best J! games I've seen: ToC level of skill and aggressive play, and crazy drama.

Hi there! Thank you so much -- it was SUCH a fun game to play. Of course I wish I could've gone on to play more, but if I only had to play one game, I couldn't have asked for a more exciting and suspenseful one!

ariane wrote:

seaborgium wrote:Apologies for misspelling your name. I spelled it right at first, then let doubt seep in and went back and added Ns in. Fixing it now!

No worries at all! Believe me, I have seen and heard every imaginable variation of spelling & pronunciation of my name...

Ariane, did you know these two guys were finalists in the last two ToCs? When Tom Nissley tells you yours was one of the best games he's seen, you can float around on that for a while. You had but one miss, while Keith and Paul between them had 10. Your FJ get made the guys look silly and made my guess (Earthquakes -- San Jose's MLS team) look even more comically wrong. Nicely played!

Omnivore wrote:Been off the boards for quite a while (no doubt because we're not talking about ME anymore), but I just wanted to say to Keith (and to Paul and Ariane, if you stop by) that was one of the best J! games I've seen: ToC level of skill and aggressive play, and crazy drama.

Hi there! Thank you so much -- it was SUCH a fun game to play. Of course I wish I could've gone on to play more, but if I only had to play one game, I couldn't have asked for a more exciting and suspenseful one!

ariane wrote:

seaborgium wrote:Apologies for misspelling your name. I spelled it right at first, then let doubt seep in and went back and added Ns in. Fixing it now!

No worries at all! Believe me, I have seen and heard every imaginable variation of spelling & pronunciation of my name...

Ariane, did you know these two guys were finalists in the last two ToCs? When Tom Nissley tells you yours was one of the best games he's seen, you can float around on that for a while. You had but one miss, while Keith and Paul between them had 10. Your FJ get made the guys look silly and made my guess (Earthquakes -- San Jose's MLS team) look even more comically wrong. Nicely played!

NO WAY!! I'm new to this discussion board so I don't recognize the user names. Wow -- I'm honored! And this TOTALLY made my day. Thank you!

reddpen wrote:Ariane, did you know these two guys were finalists in the last two ToCs? When Tom Nissley tells you yours was one of the best games he's seen, you can float around on that for a while. You had but one miss, while Keith and Paul between them had 10. Your FJ get made the guys look silly and made my guess (Earthquakes -- San Jose's MLS team) look even more comically wrong. Nicely played!

NO WAY!! I'm new to this discussion board so I don't recognize the user names. Wow -- I'm honored! And this TOTALLY made my day. Thank you!

Another good reason to stay around, Ariane, I'd say about half the regulars here are former contestants (some lost their first game, some won at least once, some are even TOCers - hence the custom titles) - that's the main reason I stick around (as opposed to, say, the Sony boards), you can't *buy* the kind of expertise the people here can give you - even if you've already been a contestant (like you), there's plenty of people here that you can learn a lot from. (And, yes, some of those are also the ATBs - About To Bes, ie haven't been on yet (but I'm expecting to Any Day Now.))

"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me

"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings